Loyalty Of A Monster
by Vanguard523
Summary: I didn't realize how much we were like them and they were like us until me and my friends met her and her team. To meet someone part of the alliance who was so like-minded... I never thought one of them could ever possibly become a friend.
1. How It Started

Since the First Encounter, our species have co-existed together not entirely peacefully, but together nonetheless. We didn't quite realized how valuable the other species were until we found a common enemy in the Creatures of Grimm.

They would raid their villages, destroy their houses and kill their family, just as they would do to us. It wasn't until shortly after the Great War that we decided to form a permanent alliance. If we needed help, they would assist us and vice versa.

We managed to learn their language much faster than they learned ours and just like them, not everyone supported the alliance. For us, we also had groups who would live far away from the major cities as they believed the agreement was nothing more than a display of weakness, a call for help and that a species as grand as ours required help from no one.

I was one of the many who supported the alliance and like my brothers and sisters, would be paired up with a person they called a 'huntsman' or 'huntress'. While I was mocked because of my age, I paid no attention to the comments from those who doubted me simply because I knew participating in the academy's program would help our kind all across the world.

They put us into three categories simply named stages one through three while we identified one another as betas, alphas and omegas. The betas sizes could range from a medium-size dog to a small house and required significantly less nourishment than than the elders. A beta would be content with eating three or four pieces of chicken or fish a day while the largest of us needed their daily meals flown in on airships. There was only four omega primes in the world and their strength, size and wisdom were unmatched and thankfully, they all supported the alliance and were directly associated with the so called 'Headmasters' of the four academies.

To the north, the Behemoth omega prime assisted the headmaster of that academy while simultaneously keeping our species in line. The Wraith omega prime stationed herself to the east, doing the same while to the west was our Goliath omega prime and lastly, the Kraken was stationed at the academy known as Beacon, where I would be going.

My name is Dante, I am a beta Goliath and this is my story.

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(AN: So I thought of this idea literally last night and thought it was such a good idea because the abilities of the Evolve monsters reminded me of some characters in RWBY. I'm not going to be updating this story for about a month or two but am very excited to start it so please let me know what you guys think.)


	2. Getting Acquainted

I could smell him. There was no doubt in my mind he was somewhere around here. I'd stopped trying to follow his tracks quite some time ago once I had discovered he doubled back, attempting to deceive me.

With the Elder watching, I had to make sure to do my best or risk dishonoring not only myself, but my age group as well.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. His scent wrapped around several trees, through bushes and then, went uphill… within a second, my eyes flew open and I spun around to see him atop a small cliff in the process of leaping onto my back with claws raised.

With all the strength I had, I reached into the ground and yanked out a large rock before throwing it at my opponent who had just left the ground with a shout of rage.

The projectile and my enemy collided, sending them both to the ground. I leapt towards his form, aiming my claws for his face but he seized the limb as it moved towards his head and looked me in the eyes.

"Not quick enough, young blood!" He shouted in my face. With his back legs, he shoved me off his body, sending me flying back. He stood and prepared to incinerate my thick hide, inhaling deeply through his mouth.

Without even thinking, I sprinted on all fours towards him, my skull crashing into his stomach. With my own body on top of his, I began slashing at his face over and over until the glow from his skin had completely disappeared.

"ENOUGH!" The Elder bellowed. Breathing hard, I looked down at my opponent and noticed that my claws had actually gone through his protection and drawn blood. With a sigh, I got off him as my enemy bowed his head in shame while the Elder took to the skies above us.

"Dante, you have done well and defeated a brother a year older than yourself. I will relay the results of your challenge onto the Headmaster. I believe you can consider yourself accepted." With that, he departed, the flapping of his gargantuan wings nearly causing the trees in the Emerald Forest to collapse.

"I accept my defeat with humility, Dante." My opponent declared with a quick nod.

I nodded back with a grunt. "Thank you, brother. Shall we head back?"

The ghost of a smile graced his face and he took off like a shot towards the Beacon Academy grounds. "Race you there!" He announced, his voice slowly fading away as the strength of the Hive Mind dissipated the further away he got.

I grinned and followed behind. _I still can't believe he hasn't been named Meteor._ I thought. We never knew our parents like the humans, so our names were either picked by our peers or ourselves. I simply chose Dante because I liked the sound of it but others like my brother whom I was racing could grow to be Omegas without a name.

My species and the Behemoths were generally given strong names; Dragonfire, Ripper, Stone Breaker, names that echoed our strength. Krakens liked to brag about their mobility and were usually named Lightning or Swift Death. Wraiths preferred the shadows and usually got names similar to Ghost or Shadow Striker.

As I caught up to my late-beta brother, I could feel the strength of the Hive Mind returning, a gift from the Headmasters at each Academy. Their scientists were able to measure our brainwaves and implemented a device in each of the towers they used to communicate with one another that allowed us to talk to one another without making any perceivable noise, but only at short range.

"Get ready to jump!" My brother said as we neared the cliffs to the Academy, a large chasm in between the ground and the side of the rock face. I saw him leap and all of his claws sink deep into the stone. When I leapt, I slipped at the last second and nearly missed the rocks completely when a set of claws grabbed my hand.

Looking up, I realized my brother had just saved my life and with a quick nod, I began ascending a few feet behind him.

Upon reaching the top, we caught our breath before he spoke. "I think you owe me."

I chuckled lightly and nodded. "Yeah, no doubt."

Once we had recovered, we headed towards the school grounds, weaving through the many other beta Goliaths, Behemoths, Krakens and Wraiths who were waiting to be paired up with a huntsman or huntress.

"So why exactly did you decide to mentor me these past few months?" I inquired. "Those of us your age are usually relaxing alongside their mirrors."

He shrugged back as we walked, taking to our hind legs. "Well you know how it's said that the one we're paired up with is a reflection of ourselves?"

"Yeah, I mean, that's the whole reason Monsters and humans alike call our partners our mirrors."

Brother sighed before speaking again. "I'm starting to think I'm the exception to that rule. My mirror is really getting on my nerves."

"What's he doing?" I asked.

"Constantly talking down to himself, obsessing over finding a girlfriend, shit like that."

I stopped and looked at him quizzically. "Don't you do the exact same though? I've heard you complain more than once about finding a mate as well as saying that your claws are so dull they couldn't gut a fish."

He turned around and refused to look me in the eyes. "Maybe…" He mumbled. "Anyways, I've gotta report to the Elder, see what he wants me to do. I'll see you around, Dante."

I nodded as my brother departed. Looking around, I decided to search around for the friend I had made the previous day. Knowing her, she was probably brawling with another of her species.

As I wandered, my thoughts drifted back to when the Elder had selected me to take part in the alliance. I don't know why exactly he picked me that day when there were several other older, larger Monsters who would've been better candidates. Maybe he felt bad for me because I was a year younger than the average, maybe it was my crimson skin that caught his eye or maybe it was something else. But in the end, I couldn't pretend to understand the mind of an Omega Prime, so I just went with it.

A sudden roar brought me out of my daydreaming, emanating from the school's cafeteria. I walked a little faster and eventually discovered a Behemoth surrounded by two Wraiths and a Kraken.

The winged one lightly zapped the Behemoth and with an angered shout, sent their fist to the ground, a rock wall appearing between the Wraiths and the Behemoth. I got closer and realized it was my unnamed friend who was under attack. I started rushing to help her but she rolled towards the Kraken, pinned him under her weight and began punching him over and over again until the glow from his blue skin had disappeared. At the same time, the wall fell away and upon seeing their compatriot being beaten to a pulp, the red and green skinned Wraiths fled the scene.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted at her. "He's already down!"

She looked at me and grinned. "Hey Dante, how's it going?"

The Kraken let out a weak moan and looked to me. "Uh, not much, just wondering why you're beating this guy to death."

She scoffed back. "He's fine. I haven't even drawn blood yet."

I gestured to her fist. "You sure about that?"

She looked at the hand and shrugged, moving off her victim. "Sorry about that. But say it again and you won't be so lucky."

Too weak to take to the skies, the Kraken quietly slinked off on all fours.

I let out a sigh and just looked at her. "Do I even want to know?"

"Just the usual remarks about my lack of strength. Don't think he'll be repeating that again though." She declared. "But can I assume by the fact that you're not bleeding that you passed the test?"

I nodded back happily at the hulking mass of stone I called friend. "It was over fast and he almost had me, but yeah, I passed. The Elder said he'd tell the Headmaster about my results."

She punched me on the shoulder and let out a chuckle. "Nice job! Didn't think that they'd let you in 'cause of your age."

"I thought so too, but apparently not. But anyways, you excited to meet the students arriving later today?"

She shrugged back. "It'll be nice to be a part of the alliance and do my part, yeah. How about you?"

"I mean, I want to help everyone but honestly, I'm kind of nervous about meeting my mirror."

She just laughed back. "Well, you don't have much of a choice there, Dante. If you want to do your part in the alliance, you've gotta find someone you can trust your with life by the end of the year."

"Easy for you to say!" I growled back. "You actually like meeting new people. Why do I need to meet others when I've already got a good group of friends?"

My friend was about to reply when she was cut off by a Wraith who nearly warped into her.

"Hey! What's the rush, buddy?!"

He looked back at us as he slowly hovered backwards. "What, didn't you guys hear? The new students are here!" With that, he took off again towards the airship docks as many other of our kind headed that same way.

My Behemoth friend glanced at me before she curled herself into a ball and took off in the same direction, leaving behind miniature patches of fire as I rushed to catch up with her.

Upon arriving at the airship docks, she unfolded herself and requested I check her back for dirt in her scales, something I found she did routinely as she severely disliked the idea of dirtying her plates outside of combat.

After doing so and giving the affirmative that she was fine, my eyes were drawn towards the incoming airship that contained our future mirrors. The second the ramp hit the concrete, students sprinted off the airship with some heading towards ourselves and others towards the school.

Not knowing what to do, I merely strode next to my behemoth friend as she made her way towards some new students clad in armor. She smelled one of them and a boy with blue hair spoke up.

"Hey Cardin, one of those things is smelling ya'." He said, gesturing to my friend as the one she was testing looked down and grinned.

"Well aren't you a big one." The brown haired one declared. My friend then growled back and snapped at his fingers. He retracted his hand and with his friend, moved away from her.

"What was that?" I inquired. "Why didn't you like him?"

"Could practically smell the cowardice on that one if I didn't see it. I want my mirror to be someone who isn't afraid of confrontation, to take the fight to those who threaten them."

I nodded in understanding. "Don't forget stubborn and cranky as hell before breakfast. That'll be your mirror for sure!"

She chuckled back and light-heartedly punched my shoulder as my gaze fell on a pure black Wraith slithering through the crowd.

"Hey, who's that?" I inquired, gesturing towards the odd-colored newcomer.

My friend looked over and grunted back. "That's right, you haven't been here long enough to know the big names. That's Bane of Light. She's supposedly the quietest one out of everyone participating in the alliance, and not just in combat. I tried to talking to her once and she hardly said a word."

"Interesting. She must be stealthy if she's renowned to be quiet even amongst the Wraiths."

My friend nodded back. "Oh yeah. I guess during her initiation even her opponent never saw her. Bane was able to send a decoy at the beginning and wore her mentor down over time before ghosting her."

I let out a "hmm" at the statement. If even an older Wraith couldn't keep tabs on her, then there was no way any of the other Betas or Alphas could. Maybe the Omegas stood a chance, but the Prime would find her in a second.

Suddenly a group of students zipped past us and I saw a gleam in my friend's eye before she took off like a shot, leaving me there alone.

 _Well she's eager to find her mirror._ I thought. As more students and my fellow species dissipated, I saw a girl in red fall onto several suitcases and their owner begin berating her.

As I listened, I couldn't help but get angry. The crimson girl had apologized but the one in white refused to leave the matter be. I made to turn around, thinking it was none of my business, but something inside me decided otherwise. I advanced until they both took notice of me and I rose on my legs before letting out the loudest roar of anger I could, sending a glare towards the obviously over-entitled girl.

Both of their eyebrows shot up and the girl in white took a step back as a girl in black holding a vial of the stuff they called 'Dust' approached with a disapproving look on her face.

"I guess even they know that the Weiss Schnee and her father's company is particularly infamous for attempting to use them and people as slaves." She declared, pointing a finger at me.

While part of that was true and I did know we were almost used as workhorses, I didn't know that the SDC was responsible for it.

I unconsciously bared my teeth at the heiress and she seized the vial and walked off quickly, as did the other girl in black.

My expression returned to normal as I walked towards the girl in red, who looked back at me cautiously.

"Um…Hi." She said with a wave, kneeling down to become closer to my height. "I'm Ruby. You're a little smaller than the other ones, aren't you?"

 _As are you._ I thought with a chuckle. She then held out her hand palm up and I nodded at her, as this was how the Prime relayed to us how they had been instructed to approach us.

She then began scratching my rough head as she examined me further. "You've got red skin too, that's awesome!" Ruby announced gleefully.

 _She seems nice._

(AN: So this chapter was more of a reminder that this story **is not dead** and also to let you guys know how things work in this AU. What species do you think the members of teams RWBY and JNPR will be teamed up with?)


	3. Making Friends

I walked alongside the girl named Ruby as she met another guy named Jaune.

"So is that your mirror?" The blond boy inquired as he gestured to me.

She looked fondly at me before returning her gaze to him. "Naw, she's just a cute little Goliath who helped me out."

I stopped and let out a grunt, Ruby giving me a confused look as realization dawned on her. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you a boy or girl?"

I shook my head and held up a single claw at her. "Boy?" To which I nodded. "Okay, **He's** just a cute little Goliath who helped me out." She reiterated.

"You mean you didn't check…down…there?"

I let out a threatening snarl at him as Ruby shook her head. "Of course not. I just assumed. They are just like us after all, each one has different personalities, likes and dislikes and probably don't like when people look at what's in their pants. Right?" She finished, looking at me.

I gave her another nod of affirmation and unconsciously smiled. The only way we could really identify Monsters as male or female was by their scent, which is one quality the humans didn't have. _For being one so young, she knows quite a bit._

"Well, he's red just like you, so I think you guys would get along pretty well." Jaune interjected.

I just sighed. _This guy however, definitely could use some improvement. But, he's not trying to fight me and he helped Ruby off the ground when she tripped so he's okay with me._

Ruby nodded at Jaune before her gaze fell back to me with a quizzical look. "You're also a little younger than the rest of them aren't you?" A question that I replied to by letting out a sigh before nodding. "That's okay. I am too. What do you say we show them that age is just a number?"

I grinned back and let out an affirmative grunt. It was my original plan since I'd joined, but now that I found someone who shared my goal, things were going to be a lot easier. _Maybe my Behemoth friend was right. Making friends might just make everyone's lives easier._ I thought while mindlessly walking alongside Ruby with Jaune on her opposite side.

Ruby then brought up the topic of the Headmaster and the three of us rushed to the amphitheater for his speech, even though Monsters were not required to attend.

A hand shot up out of the crowd, and Ruby's eyes lit up as she said goodbye to Jaune and moving towards the extended appendage's owner, who turned out to be her older sister Yang.

"Hey Ruby! Who's your friend?" The blonde inquired, gesturing to me.

"Oh, he helped me out in the courtyard and just been tagging along ever since. Thanks for ditching me by the way!" She shouted sarcastically.

"Dante?" I heard a familiar voice ask. I looked around to no avail until Ruby's sister dropped my Behemoth friend to the ground after I saw her resting on her shoulder. "Is she your mirror?"

I looked to Ruby and shook my head. "No, just someone I'm shadowing for the time being. Looks like you found yours though." I declared with a grin.

She looked to Yang and nodded back happily. "Yeah, she seems like one hell of a fighter and unlike the others around here, isn't afraid of a brawl."

As the sisters talked, another familiar voice entered the conversation rather angrily.

"You! You were just lucky you weren't blown off the side of the cliff."

I matched the voice to that of the Schnee heiress and let out a snarl as my friend did the same while the interaction got more heated, the girl I now knew as Weiss calling Ruby a dolt. The pale girl finally backed down after a solid minute of arguing.

I let out a huff as my friend just looked at me. "That was a little uncalled for."

"I just don't see why they can't be friends. I feel bad that she was the first one Ruby encountered after stepping off the flight."

"Hey, that's Professor Ozpin, isn't it?" Ruby suddenly declared.

"Yup. Think his speech is going to start soon. Want a lift?" Yang inquired, looking to my nameless friend.

She nodded back as Yang kneeled, extending her hand to the floor and my friend scaled her arm before stopping on her shoulder.

Ruby looked to me, most likely going to offer the same, but I shook my head with a smile.

"I'll keep this brief." His authoritative voice rang out. "You have travelled here to hone you craft, acquire new skills and support the alliance. Some I see, have already met their mirrors. After graduation, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people and Monsters across the world. But I look among you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." That statement caused a practically identical response from Yang and my friend as they both tensed up aggressively. "You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge will only carry you so far. It is my duty as well as the Elder's to assist you along your path but in the end, it is up to everyone in this room to take the first step."

A blonde woman then stepped up to the microphone and told everyone to gather in the ballroom tonight as well as prepare for tomorrow.

The sisters talked and I thought I could see Bane making her way out of the building without so much as a sound. Soon, everyone dispersed and my friend curled herself into a ball while her mirror tossed her into the air.

"Um…Yang?"

"'Sup?"

"Are you sure she likes that?" The blonde stopped, caught my friend in her hands as she poked her head out and nodded quickly.

 _Those two are a pair made in heaven._ I thought with a chuckle as she continued to be tossed about, laughing all the way.

"So what's her name?" Ruby asked me. "Or does she have one yet?"

I shook my head at the question. Multiple others had tried to give her one but she scoffed at every one of them.

Yang suddenly grabbed my friend and rolled her like a bowling ball down the stone path, leaving small patches of fire in her wake.

"Hey Yang, apparently she doesn't have a name. Any ideas?"

"Blaze." She answered with a smirk. The Behemoth unfolded herself, walked back and nodded to Yang with a grin.

"She's definitely the one." Blaze declared.

We kept walking towards the dorms with the sisters, luggage in tow. "How about him? Got a name, buddy?"

I nodded back. Yang looked to Ruby and reminded her to speak to  
Ozpin about my name. Even we didn't know what the connection between them was, but all four Primes of the academies could communicate with the Headmasters through some sort of telepathy while we could understand the humans through basic speech.

While Yang and Blaze made their way to the ballroom to set up for the night, Ruby decided she wanted to learn my name as quickly as she could and searched for the Headmaster so he could contact the Omega Prime.

On our path, we encountered the particularly uptight Kraken infamous for her almost regal attitude named Skyborne Blitz. Thankfully the exchange was fast after I nearly bumped into her and I simply strode away rather than engaging even though I apologized.

 _I bet her and the heiress would get along wonderfully._ I thought sarcastically. Eventually the red-caped girl found the Headmaster and I stepped forth as she inquired my name. He nodded and closed his eyes as the Omega Prime's wings thundered overtop of him, this being the first time all day he'd decided to show himself. He then hovered and appeared to be concentrating before he flew off again.

"This one's name is Dante, Ms. Rose. As you correctly assumed, he is unique in that he is not only younger than the average Monster, but his skin tone, like your eyes is an extremely rare colour for their species."

His statement actually shocked me. I knew red skin was a little odd for someone like me but I thought there were at least a few others like me. Guess I was wrong.

"Thanks Professor!" She said quickly with a nod. "I'll be ready to go first thing tomorrow morning." She promised as we strode towards the ballroom.

Ruby soon found her sister and while she changed into her sleepwear, I curled myself into a ball next to her sleeping bag and was about to fall asleep when I felt a tap on my back.

"Tired already, Dante?" A very familiar voice teased. "You didn't do anything."

I grunted back. "Nah, just thinking about some stuff."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

I paused. _Is she going to judge me for thinking this? What am I thinking, she wouldn't be my friend if I thought she would._ "You remember that old tale the omegas would tell us growing up?"

Blaze sighed as she sunk into herself beside Yang's sleeping bag. "The Legend of the Elements you mean?"

"Yeah, that's it." I replied. "Four Monsters given the gifts of Air, Earth, Fire and Water. All of them unnamed and no larger than an Alpha, a Wraith to represent the weightlessness and grace of the air given the ability to control hurricanes and tornadoes, a Behemoth whose stone hide was tougher than the world itself granted near invincibility, a Goliath for fire whose breath was said could burn hotter than the sun, and a Kraken who could cause floods with a single flap of their wings."

She chuckled back and gave me a look of doubt. "You know that's just a legend, right?"

I nodded back. "Of course. I'm just thinking… if they did exist, they could do so much bad but instead decide to keep the world in balance and let people live their lives peacefully. That's why I joined the alliance. I want to be able to help anyone who doesn't have those abilities and can't fight back."

"Then why didn't you become a vagabond? You could've joined with a mercenary and lived a posh life."

I shook my head back at her. "You know that's not who I am. I don't want anything in exchange. I just want for everybody to be able to walk freely around without having to worry about the Grimm."

"Of course." Blaze retaliated with a chuckle. She was about to continue talking when a shout from a particularly annoying heiress caught our ears. I lifted my head to see Ruby and Yang fighting with each other with the black-clad girl from this morning observing while the Heiress chastised them both.

A candle blew out, Blaze and I exchanged glances and fell asleep soon after.


	4. The Beginning

**(An:** So I probably owe you guys an explanation as to why I haven't uploaded a chapter since I think 2018 and it's because I'm only just now getting out of a three-year long depression and haven't found my inspiration coming back. I am happy to say that I think it's coming back now and will try to upload chapters as regularly as possible. Just a quick reminder that no matter how bad things might seem, they absolutely do get better and no matter what, you are loved by loads of people even if you don't believe it yourself. Remember to take care of yourself and just live in the moment. Anyway, that's it for this rant, I'll let you get to the newest chapter!)

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I awoke the next morning and my stomach growled. I looked up to see if I had awoken Ruby, only to discover she wasn't there and it wasn't even my stomach aching from starvation, but Blaze's.

"Sorry." She chuckled apologetically. "C'mon Dante, Yang and her sister are in the cafeteria having breakfast. Wanna join 'em?"

"Sure." I said with a nod. I stood and stretched, feeling the beginnings of my razor spines crack and we went on our way. We entered the cafeteria along with the many other students and monsters and made our way to the feeding vats; large tubes that dispensed hundreds of pieces of meat ranging from venison to herring for us. The machines were designed for betas as alphas and omegas were too large to fit through the doors. I stepped up to one of the many machines and seized the brick of meat with my teeth as I crawled and as I looked around, heard a familiar voice.

"Dante, over here!" Ruby called out. I looked and saw her sitting alongside her sister enjoying her morning meal and ran towards her. She patted the empty spot next to her and I leapt up on the table before depositing what tasted like chicken on the table.

I half expected her to act disgusted but instead, she chuckled and scratched my head, a feeling that was much appreciated.

"That's all you're going to eat?" The red-clad girl inquired. I nodded back and she let out a sigh before grabbing an item off her plate and sliding it in front of me. I sniffed at the peculiar object. It was brown, circular and had black spots on it.

I gave Ruby a quizzical glance. "It's a chocolate chip cookie. They're really good."

Blaze arrived quickly behind me and Yang assisted her up to the seat next to her. "Hey girl, how's it going?" The blonde asked as she held out her hand for a high five, which Blaze slapped. Both chuckled as Yang shifted her gaze to me and Blaze chowed down. "It's true, Dante. I can't get her to stop eating the freakin' things."

I took a tentative nibble of the cookie and was met with a newfound sensation. I picked it up and shoved the rest of the cookie in my mouth, having trouble chewing due to the amount of room it took up. Yang and Blaze burst out laughing at me and through her mirth, could hear Yang say; "H-he looks like a chipmunk!" She was laughing so hard I could see tears in her eyes but was too focused on devouring the rest of the delicious snack. After finishing, I let out what was almost a purr of joy, something Ruby took notice of.

"Sorry Dante, that's my last one. How about every time we eat together now, I'll give you a cookie. Sound good?" I eagerly nodded back before going back to the meat.

The meal was soon finished and the sisters headed down to the armory for their initiation.

As myself, Blaze, Yang and Ruby walked, the conversation between the sisters took an interesting turn.

"I think Dante shoving that cookie into his mouth is going down as the funniest thing I've seen in my entire life." Yang declared with another chuckle, tears of laughter threatening to spill down her face once again.

"Hey, come on, Yang. I don't think he likes being made fun of like that." Ruby replied seriously, looking to me for confirmation, which I replied to by shaking my head and grinning.

 _As long as someone's getting a laugh out of it, I don't really care._ I thought.

As she recognized my smile, her gaze lingered on me for a while. "Who was it that gave them that name?"

Her sister gave a lost look. "What name?"

"Monsters." The red-caped girl came back. "I mean, a monster is really something that destroys what people love and has no heart, soul or feelings, but look at them." She gestured to Blaze and myself. "They smile, they laugh with us, and protect us. So why are we calling them monsters when the creatures of Grimm are the real monsters?"

Yang thought for a minute. "Ok, I guess that's fair. But what else are we supposed to call 'em when we just see one without their mirror?"

My mirror hummed in thought. "How about…uh…" She didn't appear to have a response at the ready.

 _Guardians?_ I thought. _If we don't have a mirror to protect, pretty much our whole lives are centered around shielding patches of eggs._ It was the one thing we would **never** do. Even Monsters…or… Guardians tied to mercenary groups would refuse contracts that involved the destruction of the next generation. I could think of hundreds of stories I heard growing up about a Guardian who brutally shredded and ate their mirror the second they aimed a weapon at our offspring.

"Dante, got any ideas?" Yang inquired, to which I nodded.

Ruby tilted her head at me. "Think you can talk to The Elder about it?"

I let out an affirmative grunt. It would be quite the task, changing our recognized names from Monsters to Guardians, but definitely a step in the right direction.

We proceeded on to the armory where Ruby proudly seized her scythe-sniper rifle, Crescent Rose and as the sisters conversed and armed up, Blaze and myself eyed the other students, some of whom had a mirror and others did not. I saw the first student Blaze greeted in the courtyard the day before strapping on his armor while another Behemoth, large for a beta, stood by his side, sending a glare at me.

I returned the stare and he eventually broke contact and noticed Skyborne Blitz keeping herself at head level to the Schnee heiress as the pale girl talked with a crimson and golden-clad student. _Of course Blitz would team up with her._ I thought.

The other girl had a wraith with an golden tinge to her skin calmly pacing above the floor as another Kraken and Behemoth started exiting the building with a green and black-clad boy and a pink and white-clad girl respectively, the white, almost rose-coloured Behemoth talking rather quickly.

I silently chuckled to myself. _Those two make quite the pair._

"So Dante," Blaze interrupted my thoughts. " Which team do you think you're going to end up on with your mirror?"

"Huh?" I grunted out. "Why can't Ruby and Yang be on the same team with us?"

My larger friend seemed to shrink into herself as she replied. "Well, it's kind of difficult to explain, but you know that there's the possibility we won't all end up on the same team, right?"

"Are you implying that you don't want to be on my team?" I inquired.

The response was met with a series of denials followed by an insistence that I go out and meet others on my own, a notion I was not in favor of. As we finished, I heard the sisters going through the exact same argument.

Once we were finished with our conversation, Blaze and myself followed Yang and Ruby out to the launch pads to see them off.

Upon arrival, I noticed the large behemoth and the brown-haired student standing tall. I took a second and realized the other of my kin had patches of black around his plates and skull. He glared at me again but withdrew his gaze as Blaze tapped my shoulder with her own.

"That's Crusher. One of the most arrogant guys I've ever met. Thinks he can take on the Omega Prime with one fist and looks down on anyone who isn't as strong as he is."

I quietly chuckled. "Yeah, looks like his mirror isn't much better. Saw him already picking on him." I declared, pointing to Jaune. I proceeded to look at the figure next to him and realized it was a sister of mine. "Who's that?" I asked.

Blaze took a second to look in Jaune's direction and shrugged. "Actually don't know. I've seen her around once or twice but I feel like she's…"

"Reserved?"

"Yeah. Almost like she's hiding something. Still spoken to her more times than Bane over there." She declared, motioning to the shadow-born wraith waiting calmly next to her similarly color-clad mirror.

Once all the students had arrived, the Headmaster began his speech and explained how teams would be formed, much to mine and Ruby's chagrin. I didn't like leaving these types of things left up to chance. At the word 'Begin', students were being catapulted one by one into The Emerald Forest, leaving us behind.

I looked up to Ruby, smiled and nodded, silently bidding her good luck as she gave my head one final scratch while Blaze and Yang shared another more high-five.

As us Guardians witnessed the young huntsmen and huntresses begin their trial, I felt a presence approach on my right and upon turning, saw the yellow-skinned Goliath who accompanied Jaune bearing a smile.

"So… are those girls your mirrors?" She tentatively asked.

"Yep!" Blaze replied, returning the smile.

I stared as Ruby began slowing down and disappeared into the lush forest before grinning and nodding. "Yeah. She's my mirror. What's your name?"

"Archangel. A name given to me by the guy I was next to. I guess an Archangel is a warrior who fight for good."

Blaze smiled. "I think it fits. Glad to have you here, Archangel."

Crusher strode past us and practically shoved our new friend as he did so. Much to my surprise, Angel merely looked away and ignored the incident. "Well, are you guys excited for this year as much as I am?" She asked.

"Hell yeah!" Blaze shouted.

"Absolutely, after all, this is the beginning of our new lives as Guardians of the Alliance." I declared.


End file.
